Blood on the Kitchen Floor: Revisiting My Family's (Risk) Legacy

My mother played board games with me and my brother when we were younger. A few years ago, I brought home a new game. A Legacy game, which changes permanently as the campaign progresses.

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This is planet Just Margie.

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My mother conquered it.

The campaign last 15 games. Whoever wins the most games names the planet and is crowned the grand winner.

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Mom played the Saharan Republic almost every time.

They're basically the Fremen from Dune meets sectarian insurgents.

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She starts in Russia. Every time.

It's the Saharan Republic's official Starting Territory. She founded the city of Palmira with her first victory, fortified it, and bunkered it. If memory serves me, the barriers didn't fall until the last battle of the last game of the campaign.

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Europe was gone. We had the continent of Fenris.

This all takes place on a clone of Earth. The territories are named after Earth territories, but the continents are blank. Only the winners get to name continents.

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Not South America. Zumbaland.

My mother named this one, but I really like founding cities here.

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Not Asia. Canela.

She named this one too.

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Not North America. Big Nicolistan.

Long story. Don't ask.

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Not Australia. Pangea.

If you've ever read The Maxx, you'll get it. Note the Alien Island off the coast. We'll get to that in a minute.

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Not Africa. Kingsland.

This is the only continent my brother named. He preferred to found major cities with his victories.

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My brother always played Imperial Balkania.

He's a bit of a World War II buff. When we were kids, he always rooted for Cobra to beat GI Joe. It's possible my parents adopted him from a Brazilian orphanage. If you know what I mean.

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My brother was an Alien Collaborator.

This got him a boatload of alien reinforcements and won him a game, but it hurt him in the long run. Being the Alien Collaborator meant he lost more forces when he was taking undefended cities. This represents the civilian occupants fighting tooth-and-nail against traitors to the species.

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There's an Alien Island off the coast of Indonesia.

He teleported out of nowhere, and bridged Madagascar and Westen Australia. The "Australia Tactic", where players corner of themselves in Australia and build up and build up and build up, was no longer an option.

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My brother had two favorite cities. Rolandgrad...

You can guess what his name is.

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... and Rolandia. Neither of which were his official Starting Territory.

Rolandia had supply problems, thanks to me. It was harder to defend because of lack of ammunition and other resources.

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His Starting Territory should have been Iceland, but I nuked it.

And became the Bringer of Nuclear Fire from my troubles. But it was worth it.

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This brought in a new faction, the Mutants.

They got a Bonus when attacking The Enclave of the Bear, my favorite faction, but neither of them ever played them.

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I played the other original factions once or twice, but mostly I played The Enclave of the Bear.

Because I like the idea of genetically engineered barbarians riding genetically engineered monster bears into battle.

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Even though the campaign is over, we've been known to continue playing.

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There are still factions that have yet to be played.

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And there's still one envelope to unlock.

And if I can't name the planet, I'm going to found and name the World Capital. It is my destiny.